First-Ever Sunday Streets Event Transforms Downtown Berkeley
Some 40,000 people flooded downtown Berkeley on a brilliantly sunny day in October, as the city became the latest in the San Francisco Bay Area to host a “Sunday Streets” event. Organizers closed 17 blocks of Berkeley’s Shattuck Avenue to cars––and opened them to pretty much everything else. Cyclists pedaled, hula hoops turned, children frolicked, climbers scaled a mobile rock wall, and musicians inspired scores to break out in dance. Families took leisurely strolls through streets transformed, while restaurants in North Berkeley’s “gourmet ghetto” turned a brisk business. Residents surveyed a demonstration “parklet” that could soon see Berkeley parking spaces transformed into temporary green spaces, and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition showcased plans for a major upgrade to the city’s bicycle network at Hearst Avenue.
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